iPhone 17 Pro Max rumored thickness shown off in new video

AppleInsider

A new video of a dummy of the forthcoming iPhone 17 Pro Max has surfaced, backing up previous rumors that the model will be significantly thicker than the current model.

Purported iPhone 17 Pro Max dummy

The news that the iPhone 17 Pro Max would have a thicker chassis than the current iPhone 16 Pro Max was first reported in March 2025. It was also reported that this model would get an advanced vapor chamber cooling system, which might account for the increased size.

That cooling feature is expected to be in both of the new Pro models, but as yet there hasn't been news that the iPhone 17 Pro will also be thicker. The new video being circulated by leaker Majin Bu solely shows a dummy of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but it does appear to confirm the extra thickness.

iPhone 17 Pro is beautiful pic.twitter.com/d2osFRSVDS

-- Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial)

May 28, 2025

The 34-second video comes with no details, and solely features a hand rotating the device. Consequently, there are no measurements and little to specify that the model is thicker.

Visually, though, the phone in the video appears to fit with previous descriptions. Those have had the iPhone 17 Pro Max being 8.725mm (0.3435 inches), compared to its predecessor's 8.25mm (0.3248 inches).

If the extra width is not to accommodate the cooling system, or some other as yet unknown feature, it may be to allow for a larger battery. AppleInsider has estimated that the 0.5mm increase could equate to as much as 8% more battery capacity.

Leaker Majin Bu has a mixed track record for accuracy. While he has been correct at times, he also erroneously claimed that the iPhone 15 would get two front-facing cameras.

Separately, it was reported in February 2025 that the iPhone 17 Pro models could feature reverse charging. This is when the iPhone itself is used to charge other devices, such as AirPods.

Rumor Score: Possible

Read on AppleInsider

ne1

For the love of God, please stop changing the thickness and dimensions of the phone every year. Does Apple no longer have any hardware forethought or long range planning? Are these year-to-year teams not coordinating with each other? Find a thickness and case dimensions that will work for several years and stick to it! 

hmlongco

ne1 said:

For the love of God, please stop changing the thickness and dimensions of the phone every year. Does Apple no longer have any hardware forethought or long range planning? Are these year-to-year teams not coordinating with each other? Find a thickness and case dimensions that will work for several years and stick to it! 

Most people don't upgrade each and every year, so even if they did people on a 2-3 year cycle would still need a new case.

Not to mention that new button and camera configurations come into play here too.

hmlongco

So is that a button on the bottom left side, or a sim tray? Existing phones (or at least mine) no longer have sim trays, so are they adding it back?

Or is this--shudder--the fabled "AI" button?

xed

hmlongco said:

So is that a button on the bottom left side, or a sim tray? Existing phones (or at least mine) no longer have sim trays, so are they adding it back?

Or is this--shudder--the fabled "AI" button?

That mockup does include a SIM tray based on the pin hole addition.

I think only the US models are sans the SIM tray (thankfully). I can't wait until the rest of the world can eschew the physical SIM for eSIM so that space can be regained for all.

xed

ne1 said:

For the love of God, please stop changing the thickness and dimensions of the phone every year. Does Apple no longer have any hardware forethought or long range planning? Are these year-to-year teams not coordinating with each other? Find a thickness and case dimensions that will work for several years and stick to it! 

As Hmlongco stated, people will likely get a new case anyway after years of owning a smartphone. I typically go through 2 to 4 between each iPhone upgrade at this point in a mature market.

But even if that wasn't the case, I'd rather Apple engineer their iPhones around the technology and quality of the device (like features, performance, and durability) instead of trying to play Tetris with components just to make sure it'll all work within a very specific size so that a customer can keep using an old protective case.

edited May 28

charlesn

ne1 said:

For the love of God, please stop changing the thickness and dimensions of the phone every year. Does Apple no longer have any hardware forethought or long range planning? Are these year-to-year teams not coordinating with each other? Find a thickness and case dimensions that will work for several years and stick to it! 

This isn't viable. Have you seen a teardown of an iPhone? There is zero space wasted. Dimensions have to be tightly based around the phone's capabilities and the size of components needed to deliver those capabilities at that time. Component sizes change, usually getting smaller over time, while the dimensions of new components may not be locked a few years in advance when they're still being tested. From what we can see in this video, the 17 Pro Max capabilities require a case that's .5mm thicker--but it wouldn't have made sense to make 16 Pro Max thicker for no reason, leaving that space empty until the 17 Pro Max came along. And what of the larger screens introduced with the 16 models? Should the 15 models have adopted thick bezels on the top and bottom of its smaller screen so it could maintain size parity with the upcoming 16? You could go pretty far down the rabbit hole with other examples. 

edited May 29

dutchlord

Thickness and weight are statistics which don’t bring value for customers and are no innovation. Please bring smart mailboxes to the iPhone/iPad, release a fold iPhone.

dewme

charlesn said:

ne1 said:

For the love of God, please stop changing the thickness and dimensions of the phone every year. Does Apple no longer have any hardware forethought or long range planning? Are these year-to-year teams not coordinating with each other? Find a thickness and case dimensions that will work for several years and stick to it! 

This isn't viable. Have you seen a teardown of an iPhone? There is zero space wasted. Dimensions have to be tightly based around the phone's capabilities and the size of components needed to deliver those capabilities at that time. Component sizes change, usually getting smaller over time, while the dimensions of new components may not be locked a few years in advance when they're still being tested. From what we can see in this video, the 17 Pro Max capabilities require a case that's .5mm thicker--but it wouldn't have 10made sense to make 16 Pro Max thicker for no reason, leaving that space empty until the 17 Pro Max came along. And what of the larger screens introduced with the 16 models? Should the 15 models have adopted thick bezels on the top and bottom of its smaller screen so it could maintain size parity with the upcoming 16? You could go pretty far down the rabbit hole with other examples. 

i agree. Apple is always faced with the dilemma of how to stuff 10 pounds of components, circuitry, glass, and batteries into a 5 pound bag. There are only so many things they can do to stylize a slab the fits nicely into a human hand and differentiate from the competition. I’m not thrilled with the button placement on the current iPhones because I inevitably activate something I don’t want to on the phone. Even the touch screen is sometimes a problem. I can’t count all the times I’ve glanced down at the phone to see the desktop in jiggle mode, or worse yet, my Apple Wallet open. It’s a mystery to me why it’s so easy to accidentally open the wallet. I know it’s me, but it’s still frustrating. 

tht

dutchlord said:

Thickness and weight are statistics which don’t bring value for customers and are no innovation. Please bring smart mailboxes to the iPhone/iPad, release a fold iPhone.

Er, thickness and weight are features in of themselves. They sell products. There are points of diminishing returns, but Apple does indeed design for thickness and weight and customers buy their products because of it. They obviously have to choose what set of features, including software, that they can concentrate on.